Gunman beaten with frying pan

In a dramatic showdown, a guest house operator in western Jamaica used a frying pan to defend herself against gunmen who stormed her home.

Julie and her husband, Donald, were shot and injured during the terrifying home invasion in Westmoreland. However, one of the attackers didn't escape unscathed, feeling the full force of Julie's frying pan fury.

Julie, a US citizen, recounted the horrifying ordeal. Around 2 a.m. on June 3, she awoke to a noise at their grille, initially thinking it was their cats. Instead, she saw a light at the window.

"I thought it was the cats acting out because that's how they usually are when they want to be fed in the middle of the night. I got out of bed and then I saw a light at the window which looked like a phone light. My first response was 'What the 'f*** are you doing, get the f*** out of here as I am going for my pepper spray'. But I didn't know at the time that there were two of them already in the house so I ran towards the bedroom," she said.

Donald said when he heard the commotion, he leaped out of bed and attempted to lock the bedroom door. His wife dashed to the kitchen and retrieved her frying pan. The gunmen were already in the house and were making their way into the bedroom.

"One of them knocked Julie into the wall and the frying pan that she had in her hand for defence fell from her hand. As the door burst open, I tried to push the gun away and a shot was fired and I got shot in the left shoulder," he said.

Determined to fight back against the intruders, Julie said she retrieved the frying pan "started clobbering one of the guys with all my might".

"As I was clobbering him, three more shots were fired and one of them got me in my back," Julie said.

Bleeding and injured, Julie and Donald laid on the ground. One gunman kicked Julie in the face, injuring her eyes, before the thugs fled without taking any items.

"We were locked in the house and I was wondering if they were hoping that we would stay in and bleed to death. We called the police, and shouted to our neighbour and called a friend. My husband was bleeding on the floor. An ambulance came and we were transported to the hospital," said Julie.

The couple said out of security concerns they have gone overseas for treatment.

"I believe that this incident was a targeted attack on Donald as it was not a robbery at all. This seem like an assassination attempt. We will not be closing down our business though," Julie said.

THE WEEKEND STAR made several attempts to get an update on the incident from the head of the Westmoreland Police Superintendent Othneil Dobson but calls to his cellular phone went unanswered.